Sympathy for the monster
Watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon, it's apparent that the viewer is supposed to sympathize with the monster. In class we touched on this, especially after having The Shape of Water to compare for context. Guillermo del Toro takes this a lot further, creating an entire film creating empathy for the monster. I think Creature does this fairly sufficiently on its own however (I'm not at all saying The Shape of Water isn't a great addition, but I think both stand alone well).
The monster has a great deal of autonomy, existing in its own habitat for the majority of the film. The viewer sees a clearly constructed home, built with care, and when the scientists infringe upon this place, identification is formed with the monster instead of the humans. Clover writes about a metaphorical "rape" of the land in Chapter 2, and the scientists do this by encroaching upon a place previously undisturbed. Perhaps there is a varying degree of sympathy for each scientist, representing Clover's battle between "new" and "old" masculinity, but ultimately, the destruction of the natural home of the monster is perpetuated by all humans in the film.
Particularly in the scene where Kay is swimming in the lagoon, I was reminded how similar in form the monster and the humans were. Both swam in an eerily similar way, although the creature represented the uncanny because he clearly wanted her for her female difference. The mirroring of movements and synchronized swimming showed how similar they were, despite the violence they showed toward each other.
The monster has a great deal of autonomy, existing in its own habitat for the majority of the film. The viewer sees a clearly constructed home, built with care, and when the scientists infringe upon this place, identification is formed with the monster instead of the humans. Clover writes about a metaphorical "rape" of the land in Chapter 2, and the scientists do this by encroaching upon a place previously undisturbed. Perhaps there is a varying degree of sympathy for each scientist, representing Clover's battle between "new" and "old" masculinity, but ultimately, the destruction of the natural home of the monster is perpetuated by all humans in the film.
Particularly in the scene where Kay is swimming in the lagoon, I was reminded how similar in form the monster and the humans were. Both swam in an eerily similar way, although the creature represented the uncanny because he clearly wanted her for her female difference. The mirroring of movements and synchronized swimming showed how similar they were, despite the violence they showed toward each other.
Both human and monster fight for dominance over the woman, although I struggle to identify why exactly the monster wants the woman. Is the female body really that attractive, especially to a monster in a lagoon? Is it as Clover suggests, that a story surrounding the female body is really just the cover for a plot examining the male struggle? Are men and monster really just the same?
Some other thoughts:
The creature was an interrupter of the romance between the two scientists, which reminded me of the Benshoff reading we did in Week 2. If the monster is coded as the homosexual, it complicates the argument that he's truly after the woman, thus furthering my earlier question.
Also, when thinking about the black lagoon as a metaphor for the womb I can't help thinking of the creature as some giant scaly baby hanging out in there for eternity. Just a little slimy womb thing, swimming around. This is very entertaining to me, but quarantine has made me laugh at some very silly things.
Slimy womb thing! Slimy womb thing! Yes, I also am entertained by that idea. I really like the concept of the creature as the homosexual because he is definitely coded as the 'other', and it is only further enforced by Mark and David's heterosexual show of masculinity (albeit two very different types). I wonder how the story would progress with no female figure there to cover the men's struggle with their masculinity...
ReplyDeleteI think your point about the monster and the human being depicted so similar is really interesting. I am wondering if the monster looked less human (maybe like, having a tail instead of two legs or something), would people still be able to sympathize with him? What if the monster was not depicted as being male? I am also interested in the idea you mention of men and monster being the same. I think that was kind of a funny thing for me to see in this film: How determined he was to get the female scientist while killing the male ones. Was he actually romantically interested??? Would a monster really care about the gender of their victims??? Also I love the slimy womb thing thank you for that HAHA
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